Church

So I started reading this book called Revolution by Barna and it has touched basis on a lot of things that’s been on my heart lately.

I attend this leadership/prayer group regularly and one of the girls in the group one week was sharing some of her struggles about how her mom was in the hospital sick and she was drained with taking care of her younger siblings, making dinner, as well as going to school. We prayed that God would give her strength, peace, and comfort.
But then God convicted me. If we are the church, the body of Christ, if we are truly to be Jesus’ body, what could we have done to meet her needs? Some of us could have helped her make dinner for her family, we could’ve written her notes of encouragement, or taken her out to relieve her from the stress that she experiences at home, or those closer to her family could have visited her mom.

Then God suddenly brought my attention to a close friend who had been struggling financially. And I clearly remember her sharing this with us (group of friends) with tears in her eyes. And I regret that we didn’t do anything as sisters in Christ.

And I realized that the reason why the world can’t tell the difference between a Christian and a non-believer is because we aren’t being the church, we are merely church-goers, or Jesus-admirers. We make no effort to advance his kingdom, or put down or own will and take up His.

Do we act in love as Jesus did without expecting anything in return? How are we supposed to love our enemies and love strangers if we don’t even know how to love our own brothers and sisters?

What if small groups shared their needs and thought of ways they could be the church and meet that need? And once the needs within the group are met, what if each person in that small group advanced God’s kingdom by bringing in the need of someone they knew outside the church to the group and thought of ways they could meet that need by being the living body of Christ? What if the money given to the church was distributed within small groups as needed to advance his kingdom, loving and meeting the needs of those around us before spending it on better sound systems and buildings? When somebody asks us why we do what we do, what if we are able to say that God wants you to know that he loves you, or that we want to love in the same way God loves, or that we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, rather than debating and muttering theology and empty words? What if people outside of church began to praise God because Jesus is alive?! What if people began to share testimonies of how the living church has changed their lives? What if the praise time that occurs at church once a week becomes a time of praising a God who is alive, taking joy and giving thanks that lives are changed? What if we invited people to take part in this kind of ministry?!

When I look around me and look at myself, I see that things are messed up. But there is a groaning within me that things don’t have to stay that way. We can criticize the church all day…but the truth is church is made up of people and we don’t have it altogether, but God hasn’t given up on the church rather he died for the church. Rather than criticizing the church, maybe we can think of ways of being the church…even if it starts with two or three people…inviting others to be a part of advancing God’s kingdom. I asked someone what God’s kingdom looks like to him, and he responded, “A bunch of ordinary, imperfect people following a perfect God.” What does it mean to follow a God who sacrificed and bled for the church? What does it mean to follow Jesus? What was Jesus trying to say to the world when he proclaimed a love that goes beyond culture, ethnicity, and family to strangers and enemies? What does it mean to bleed for the church?

The truth is, the kingdom of God is among us (Luke 17:21). And His kingdom/God’s story will come to completion whether we like it or not. His Will will be done whether we take part in his story by advancing his kingdom or not. God wants us to be a part of his story, but that choice is in our hands. The gospel invites us to follow in the way of Jesus who embodies for us the way of the kingdom.

I just want to leave this post with one last comment. I’m reading this book called Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp and I’m just going to quote a section.

“We might summarize Revelation this way: in the ring of human history, there’s a bleeding Lamb in one corner and a dragon in the other. “Common sense” would tell us we should place our bet on the dragon—but there’s a new common sense, a new reality, in which the Lamb turns out victorious. It’s the people of God, the church, who are supposed to know that secret because the mystery has been revealed in Christ.”

“John’s Revelation proclaims that the continuity of the church’s witness in martyrdom, in participation in the blood of the Lamb, leads to victory (12:11).”

If that’s the case….maybe church is far from what it’s supposed to be. But it doesn't have to stay that way.